The defeat of PG&E's $46M Prop 16 campaign by a $100,000 grassroots campaign (led in part by Local Power Inc.) has highlighted Community Choice Aggregation ("CCA") as an important, major new movement in California, with Marin County having recently begun service, San Francisco now negotiating with CCA suppliers, and some Sonoma County leaders calling for a CCA in Sonoma to implement a Climate Action Plan. Other cities, like San Luis Obispo, Oakland, Berkeley, and Hayward are not far behind considering whether to pursue CCAs as a means of implementing their Climate Action Plans. Community Choice is here to stay, and PG&E's unprecedented campaign to stop it has only served to spread the gospel of CCA to every city and town in the Golden State, and has even inspired new CCA efforts in other states that also have CCA laws approved by their legislatures.

Some have called the defeat of Prop 16 "one of the great progressive victories in California history." (source). We have a lot to be proud of, and we are very proud to have worked with California's best consumer and environmental organizations, local government leaders, legislators as well as a dynamic, committed, and diverse coalition of individuals, many of whom want Community Choice in their communities. We did it with little or no money, opposing PG&Es astroturf campaign with the authentic and the actual grassroots. Together, we produced and inspired some great journalism, visionary blogging and award-deserving videos, all of which will remain posted or linked on this website. This free media - over 400 newspaper articles and dozens of editorials, nearly all against Prop 16, enabled the real to defeated the unreal - a rare political victory indeed in this day and age.
By the wisdom of the voters, Prop 16 is now behind us, and CCA has a bright future in California - but PG&E's announcement after the June 8, 2010 election highlights the Orwellian contempt it actually holds for the will of the democratic majority that it claimed to champion in "Taxpayers for the Right to Vote" :

"Though we believe people should still have a voice in their communities about whether local governments should spend taxpayer dollars to go into the retail electricity business, it’s clear that these issues will need to be addressed community by community. This campaign has always been about taking these issues to the people. The coalition of organizations that support the measure will continue the conversation about voter choice in communities across California to ensure all Californians have the ability to choose their electricity provider." (source)

In this sphynx's statement that it will address these issues "community by community," PG&E is essentially thumbing its nose at voters and announcing it will continue to fund an astroturf campaign against any community that tries to offer CCA service to its residents and businesses as communities are authorized to do so under existing law and regulation. Though California voters just rejected PG&E's voter approval requirement despite $46M in saturation propaganda, PG&E is effectively refusing to concede its defeat at the polls, insolently threatening new political fights with any local government that dares negotiate for better terms with its competitors anywhere in its vast service territory. It is a classic PGEism to say that campaigning to block Community Choice "community by community" is a way "to ensure all Californians have the ability to choose their electricity provider." Wow, like 1984: War is Peace, Love is Hate. As PG&E clearly means by the statement above that its holding company will indeed fight CCAs community-by-community even though the state CCA law requires it to cooperate "fully" with municipalities that implement CCA, it appears we do indeed have a "carbon war" on our hands. To provide uninterrupted coverage of this struggle, I (Paul Fenn) will continue to maintain the powergrab.info website as a comprehensive and up-to-date news resource and information hub on the Community Choice movement in California - as well as similar and related battles throughout the United States. For breaking news, click on the "NEWS" buttom above. If you want more information, I would encourage you to visit the Local Power Inc. web site - to read my blog on these matters, or if you are interested in more specific information about CCA and my company Local Power Inc.'s ongoing implementation of CCA with communities across the US, you can find samples of our work, published papers on the subject by LPI, client list, personnel and contact information at our business website at localpower.com.